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Topic:Animal Health
Animal Health encompasses a broad range of topics focused on maintaining and improving the well-being of equine species. This field addresses various aspects of horse care, including disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of health conditions. Key areas of interest include equine nutrition, vaccination protocols, parasite control, dental care, and the management of chronic conditions such as laminitis and colic. Additionally, animal health research in horses investigates the impact of exercise and training on physical health, the role of genetics in disease susceptibility, and the development of new therapeutic approaches. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the latest advancements, challenges, and best practices in preserving and enhancing the health of horses.
The Effect of Training on Stride Duration in a Cohort of Two-Year-Old and Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Racehorses. Objective gait monitoring is increasingly accessible to trainers. A more comprehensive understanding of 'normal' gait adaptations is required. Forty two-year-old thoroughbred racehorses were recruited when entering training and followed for 22 months. Gait analysis was performed by equipping each horse with an inertial measurement unit with inbuilt GPS (GPS-IMU) mounted on the dorsum. Horses were exercised as per their regular training regimen. Data were analysed using a linear mixed model. For two-year-old horses, there was a non-linear pattern of stride duration (SD) over time ( < 0.001) ...
Storage procedures and time influence the detectability of Clostridium difficile toxin A but not toxin B in porcine fecal specimens. Storage procedures are known to affect the detectability of toxins in equine and human feces. We assessed the impact of different storage conditions on the detectability of toxins in swine feces. Specimens were inoculated with toxins, 112 ng/g of toxin A (TcdA) and 16 ng/g of toxin B (TcdB) and subjected to the following 3 storage treatments: 4°C, -30°C, repetitive freezing at -30°C and thawing. Toxin determination was assessed at 1, 2, 7, 14, and 21 d with ELISA. A decrease in concentrations of TcdA with time was observed for samples stored at 4°C and repetitive freezing-thawing ( ≤0....
The impact of the mandatory rest period in Fédération Equestre Internationale endurance events. Endurance riding competitions are increasingly popular, with a corresponding awareness of the frequency of Failure to Qualify (FTQ) due to lameness or metabolic problems. Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) rules require a minimum number of days between competitions, known as a mandatory rest period (MRP). Objective: To analyse the impact on FTQ outcomes of MRPs which applied between January 2014 and December 2016, and model potential changes to MRPs to establish which rule change could lead to the largest further reduction in the number of FTQ outcomes. Methods: Retrospective cohort st...
A high protein meal affects plasma insulin concentrations and amino acid metabolism in horses with equine metabolic syndrome. Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is characterized by an abnormal insulin response to a glycemic challenge but despite the known insulinotropic effects of certain amino acids, there is a paucity of data evaluating the impact of dietary protein on insulin dynamics in these horses. The objective was therefore to assess insulin and amino acid responses following intake of a high protein meal in healthy horses and those with EMS. Six mature horses diagnosed with EMS and six age-matched control horses without EMS were used. Horses were fed 2g/kg body mass (BM) of a high protein pellet (31% crude prot...
Glucose and insulin response after intravenous and subcutaneous somatostatin administration in healthy horses. Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is prevalent in the equine population, and somatostatin analogs might be useful for diagnosis and/or treatment of EMS in horses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the glucose and insulin responses to subcutaneous and intravenous administration of somatostatin. Six healthy research horses were included in this prospective study. An initial pilot study was performed to assess several different doses (10-22 µg/kg [4.5-10 µg/lb]) in two horses, then a final dosage of 22 µg/kg (10 µg/lb) was administered to six horses IV and SQ in a two-period random...
Acute fatal poisoning by spontaneous ingestion of Enterolobium contortisiliquum (Mimosidae) pods in horses. An outbreak of acute poisoning of horses by Enterolobium contortisiliquum pods is reported in the state of Goiás, Brazil. Three horses presented apathy, hyporexia, prostration, jaundice, recumbency and died in 24-48 hours. The main pathological findings were a yellowish liver with an enhanced lobular pattern, multifocal hepatic necrosis mostly in the midzones of lobules and sometimes with a random distribution across the hepatic lobes and swelling of hepatocytes. E. contortisiliquum trees has a wide distribution in South America and cases of poisoning have not been reported in horses.
Influence of season and pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction on hair cortisol concentration in horses. Hair cortisol has been demonstrated to reflect hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity (including Cushing's disease and stress) in several species. We hypothesized that hair cortisol concentrations are increased in horses with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) compared with healthy adult horses and that this difference is magnified in the fall, when circulating adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) is generally the highest. Cortisol from hair collected using clippers with a #40 blade from the neck was compared between PPID horses and control horses over several months in the fall (August-...
Autoimmune diseases affecting skin melanocytes in dogs, cats and horses: vitiligo and the uveodermatological syndrome: a comprehensive review. Autoimmune dermatoses targeting melanocytes have gained attention in human medicine due to their progressive nature and the social impact suffered by affected individuals. In veterinary medicine, vitiligo and the uveodermatological syndrome are the two autoimmune diseases that are known to affect skin melanocytes.In the first part of this article, we will review the signalment, clinical signs, histopathology and the treatment outcome of vitiligo in dogs, cats and horses; where pertinent, we compare the animal diseases to their human homologue. In a similar fashion, the information on the uveod...
First record of Burkholderia mallei Turkey 10 strain originating from glanderous horses from Brazil. Burkholderia (B.) mallei is the causative agent of glanders in Equidae. This study describes the first record of the Turkey 10 strain of B. mallei in glanderous horses in Northeastern of Brazil. This description should contribute to the future actions of diagnosis, control, and eradication of this disease in Brazil.
Determinants of Undesirable Behaviors in American Quarter Horses Housed in Box Stalls. The objective of this study was to investigate the management practices that affect undesirable behaviors in American Quarter Horses (AQH) confined to box stalls. A total of 105 adult AQH, comprising 29 females, 22 intact males, and 54 castrated males, housed in box stalls for at least 30 days, were included in the study. Behavioral activities were recorded through visual inspection at 5-min intervals over a 24-h period by two observers who took turns in shifts of 4 hours. Parameters related to animal characteristics, stall conditions, handling, training, nutrients supplied, and feeding beha...
Commonality of Multidrug-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae ST348 Isolates in Horses and Humans in Portugal. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) is considered a major global concern by the World Health Organization. Evidence is growing on the importance of circulation of MDR bacterial populations between animals and humans. Horses have been shown to carry commensal isolates of this bacterial species and can act as human MDR bacteria reservoirs. In this study, we characterized an extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing sequence type (ST) 348 isolate from a horse, an ST reported for the first time in an animal, using next-generation sequencing. We compared it with six other MDR ST348 human isolates pr...
Erratum: Sigurjónsdóttir, H.; Haraldsson, H. Significance of Group Composition for the Welfare of Pastured Horses. Animals 2019, 9, 14. The authors wish to make the following correction to their paper [...].
Near-Newtonian Blood Behavior – Is It Good to Be a Camel? From a certain level of exercise-intensity onward, hematocrit increases in horses, which brings more oxygen carriers into the bloodstream. Camels, however, when used in competitive racing could be even in need of iron supplementation and blood transfusions due to a severe reduction of their available hematocrit compared to their resting hematocrit. Since the extrinsic and intrinsic mechanical properties of camel erythrocytes (RBC) are so different compared to RBCs of other mammals, the question arises whether this observation might be a response to endurance exercise aiming at keeping the RBC ...
Seasonal Dynamics, Record of Ticks Infesting Humans, Wild and Domestic Animals and Molecular Phylogeny of Rhipicephalus microplus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. Although ticks prevalent in various agro-systems of Pakistan are associated with economic losses, information is still missing about the tick's diversity, hosts they infest, seasonal dynamics and molecular phylogeny of in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Pakistan. This study for the first time enlisted ticks infesting diverse hosts including humans in various regions of KP. A total of 8,641 ticks were collected across the northern, southern and central regions of KP and were morpho-taxonomically categorized into six genera comprising 17 species, ( = 3,584, 42%), ( = 2,253, 27%) ( = 1,342, 16%), ( =...
Genetic parameters estimation in an Italian horse native breed to support the conversion from agricultural uses to riding purposes. Horses are nowadays mainly used for sport and leisure purposes, and several local breeds, traditionally used in agriculture, are exposed to the risk of extinction. The long-term survival of local horse breeds depends on strategies to both monitor their genetic diversity and to find their sustainable role in the equine market. Thus, several local horse breeds need to adapt their breeding objective to allow a modernization process. The Bardigiano is an example of such horse breeds; we, therefore, studied the existing evaluation protocol from a genetic standpoint to assess the protocol's suitabil...
Amphistomes. Amphistomes, commonly referred to as 'stomach' or 'rumen' flukes because of the localization of these flukes in the stomach of ruminants, are digenetic trematodes distinguished by the absence of an oral sucker and the position of the ventral sucker or acetabulum at the posterior end of the body. The body is characterized by leaf-like fleshy structure, pink or red in colour with a large posterior sucker. Amphistomes are an important group of parasites since they cause 'amphistomiasis' (variously known as paramphistomosis/amphistomosis), a serious disease of great economic importance in ruminant...
Herbal yeast product, Equi-Strath®, alters the antioxidant status of stallion semen. Effects of a plasmolysed yeast product enriched with herbs, malt, honey and orange syrup on semen characteristics and oxidative status in stallions were evaluated. Twenty stallions (mean age ± standard deviation = 9.5 ± 4.5 years) were randomly divided into a treatment group (n = 10) receiving 0.06 mL/kg bodyweight of plasmolysed herbal yeast, and a control group (n = 10) receiving the same amount of placebo daily in the feed for 10 weeks. Ejaculates were collected weekly from all stallions starting at Week 0. Volume, sperm concentration, motility, and velocity were eva...
Oral Lesions in the Bit Area in Finnish Trotters After a Race: Lesion Evaluation, Scoring, and Occurrence. Oral lesions in the bit area are common in horses, but not comprehensively studied in harness racing horses. This study describes the type and occurrence of oral soft tissue lesions in the area affected by the bit, hereafter called the bit area, in trotters after a race. Based on our results, we suggest a system for scoring lesions according to size, type (bruise or wound), age, and depth (superficial or deep). The data was collected during a welfare program for trotters, conducted by The Finnish Trotting and Breeding Association (Suomen Hippos ry). The rostral part of the mouth of 261 horses ...
Prevalence and risk factors associated with emergence of Rhodococcus equi resistance to macrolides and rifampicin in horse-breeding farms in Kentucky, USA. The combination of a macrolide and rifampicin has been the mainstay of therapy in foals with Rhodococcus equi pneumonia for decades. Recent studies suggest that mass antimicrobial treatment of subclinically affected foals over time has selected for antimicrobial resistance. Our objective was to estimate the prevalence of R. equi strains resistant to macrolides and rifampicin at horse breeding farms in Kentucky. A hundred breeding farms in Kentucky were surveyed and R. equi were cultured from soil samples. Data were analyzed with logistic regression and generalized linear modeling (P < 0...
A Preliminary Study Investigating the Influence of Auditory Stimulation on the Occurrence of Nocturnal Equine Sleep-Related Behavior in Stabled Horses. The physical environment is known to influence nocturnal behavioral time budgets of the stabled horse, but less evidence exists to suggest how this might be affected by including additional sensory stimuli. This study aimed to establish the impact of novel auditory stimuli on the frequency of equine sleep-related behavior. Seven horses stabled for 24 hours per day on the same yard receiving the same daily management routine were observed from 2030 to 0630 over nine nights. Frequency of nocturnal behavior was recorded using focal intermittent sampling against a predetermined ethogram and an in...
Horses prefer to solicit a person who previously observed a food-hiding process to access this food: A possible indication of attentional state attribution. Inferring what others witnessed provides important benefits in social contexts, but evidence remains scarce in nonhuman animals. We investigated this ability in domestic horses by testing whether they could discriminate between two experimenters who differed in what they previously witnessed and decide whom to solicit when confronted with an unreachable food source based on that information. First, horses saw food being hidden in a closed bucket (impossible for them to open) in the presence of two experimenters who behaved identically but differed in their attention to the baiting process (the...
Seroprevalence and risk factors associated with equineleptospirosis in the metropolitan region of Salvador and Recôncavo Baiano region, Bahia state (NE Brazil). Equine leptospirosis, although usually asymptomatic, has been associated with recurrent uveitis, abortion, and other systemic signs, constituting a major economic loss in the equine agribusiness sector. The occurrence of anti-Leptospira spp. agglutinins were investigated in 1200 serum samples of horses from 27 municipalities of the Recôncavo Baiano region, Bahia state (NE Brazil), besides the risk factors related to animals and their cattle farms. The microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was performed using 13 serogroups of Leptospira spp. as antigens. From 1200 analyzed equines, 97 (8%) were...
Determining factors and interspecific modeling for serum amyloid a concentrations in working horses, donkeys, and mules. Serum amyloid A (SAA) is an acute phase protein and α-globulin that is produced in the liver in response to inflammatory cytokines. Considered a major acute phase protein in most domestic species, its concentrations rapidly decrease after resolution of inflammation, making SAA measurement a useful tool for monitoring the course of inflammation in an individual animal. The objective of this study was to compare SAA values in working equids including mules, donkeys and horses as well as values for different diseases at various times of the year. Samples were collected from 77 equids; 13 mules, ...
A Pilot Welfare Assessment of Working Ponies on Gili Trawangan, Indonesia. Many working equids in developing countries experience poor health and welfare due to environmental and management factors. Collecting baseline data on these populations is essential to inform education projects to improve equid health and welfare. Gili Trawangan is an island in Indonesia that has no motor vehicles and a working pony population of approximately 200. This pilot study sought to determine baseline data on their health, welfare, and husbandry to inform future health and welfare strategies. A cross-sectional study was performed in May 2017 consisting of a pony cart driver questionn...
Different distribution of Cryptosporidium species between horses and donkeys. Few studies have been conducted on the distribution of Cryptosporidium species and subtypes in equine animals. In this study, 878 stool specimens were collected during 2015-2019 from 551 donkeys and 327 horses in Shandong, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, China and screened for Cryptosporidium spp. by PCR analysis of the small subunit rRNA gene. The Cryptosporidium species presented were identified by sequence analysis of the PCR products and subtyped by sequence analysis of the 60 kDa glycoprotein gene. The infection rates of Cryptosporidium spp. in horses and donkeys were 3.1% (10/327) and 14...
Kumiss Supplementation Reduces Oxidative Stress and Activates Sirtuin Deacetylases by Regulating Antioxidant System. It was aimed to investigate the effects of kumiss a fermented mare horse beverage on the sirtuin deacetylases in the oxidative stress which had been induced by 1,2-dimethyl hydrazine (DMH). Forty BALB/C male mice were divided into four groups as control, kumiss (2 × 10 cfu/mL), DMH (20 mg/kg), and kumiss + DMH (2 × 10 cfu/mL + 20 mg/kg). At the end of 20-week regimen, SIRT2, SIRT3 protein expressions by western blotting, immunolocalizations, and inhibitory anti-oxidant activity analysis in liver, colon, and kidney tissues were performed. SIRT2 and SIRT3 expressions in DMH g...
Treatment Options for Melanoma of Gray Horses. All gray horses inherited a single gene mutation, STX17G, that unbalances melanocyte behavior to cause graying and propensities to develop vitiligo and melanoma. The coat color genes ASIPa and MC1RE add risk such that relative likelihood of melanoma based on pregraying coat color is black > bay > chestnut. Melanomas begin at about 4 years. Locoregional control of melanoma masses depends on surgical removal and/or intralesional chemotherapy (possibly with adjunctive hyperthermia or electroporation). Systemic treatment is not evidence based but immunomodulators (cimetidine, levamisole...
Equine Skin Antisepsis Using an Alcohol-Based Rub. Alcohol-based antisepsis has been extensively studied in human health care, but only little information is available regarding efficacy and tolerance in other species. The purpose of this study was to determine if an alcohol-based antiseptic is effective at reducing bacterial counts on equine skin and the appropriate contact time to do so, without causing any adverse skin reactions. Samples were collected before and after preparation from clipped sites over both jugular veins of horses and were plated on 3M Petrifilm Aerobic Count Plates in duplicate. Trial 1 tested an alcohol-based product (E...
